Sorry for the wait. The next update will come before the new year.

Glad to see you back, Aristo, and happy new year!

Since reading this morning's update I've been thinking about Sully (so if you haven't read that yet, go do that then come back). Honestly, I feel like our poor soldier has kinda borne the brunt of our ambition. Not that we meant to harm her or she regrets it, but having to leave her guard job and being left an unwed peasant mother-to-be, plus the lingering effects of her injury, can't be easy for her. In short, I really feel like we need to think about what we can do for her. I've had a couple thoughts on that. One, we could find her a suitable position of employment in the castle. We'd want to make sure it was something that suited her skills and would make her reasonably content, of course. Second, we could consider arranging a marriage for her. This would probably mean losing her as a lover, but depending on who she wed, she could still stay in our life as a friend and baby mama. Third one might be too modern/controversial for the setting, but when she became a guard, Sully legally gave up her femininity and became a man. Men can hold titles and land. Could we knight her? Make her a low-ranking noble in recognition of her efforts? Spin that the right way and it would inspire the guards.

>>951 Giving her titles off the bat would set off too many alarms with the nobles already in possession of the lands there. Not to mention how this could be seen by the guards as a pity ladder. At worst, she'd be easily an assassination target by Edward's hidden enemies still living within the country for simply being lowdown. Certainly not the kind of ending we'd give want to give her. I think giving her a suitable position in the castle would be far more logical in this regard, but as to what that role is - I've yet to think of something. In any case, if we're really serious on keeping Sully, we can still find a way to retain her within the castle still.

>>952 >I think giving her a suitable position in the castle would be far more logical in this regard Personal bodyguard, maybe?

>>955 I actually had the thought of naming her Tharja's bodyguard, since it's not like she's actually going to NEED one.

I'm very sorry about the long delays between updates. A month delay is simply unacceptable. But I promise we're in the "home stretch" as it is, and I anticipate a regular schedule starting again after this scene. In the meantime, I am trying to use a "just post something once a day" to get myself back into that feeling. Apologies if the latest choice seems weak.

>>1322 Thanks for making the effort to get the story back on track,aristo. I always miss it when it's gone. It's good to have you back.

>>1322 We've all had our dry spells of muse, Aristo. No worries.

>>1322 Fret not, bud. We're glad you're back, but I think I speak for all of us when I say we want you to enjoy this too. If you needed a break, you needed a break. No harm in it.

Sorry for the miss. Yesterday and today. I will return tomorrow. This will end and then we will continue. I hope it's enjoyable.

Hello everyone. We will probably have a few more updates of afterplay with Robin and then denouement. But I can finally say that the very long sex scenes one-by-one of the named characters who are pregnant is now over. (Most of them, at least.) I want to say, even if we've been doing this for six years, I'm still finding out "what works" and "what doesn't work." Writing so many individualized sex scenes one after the other did not work. Sex scenes are special, but all together, it became very hard to write. This is probably indicated by the long lengths between them and the fact I split up Robin's into so many updates just to keep momentum. I will be direct. I will never write sex scenes like this in detail all at once between several main characters ever again. It was too much work and significantly stalled the story. I will instead try to "stop-gap" sex scenes between major characters, and if Edward really has an 'orgy' with non-named characters I will likely only write brief details that keep it "short, but sweet." (Of course sex sessions with several character who can be treated as one sex scene, like Edward having sex with both Tharja and Beatrice and focusing on both, are still possible and very fair game. I only mean sex scenes where the focus was on a character, it completely stopped, then it moved to another one.) That all said, I am curious. Did these scenes pay off? Did anyone have a favorite? Please let me know if you are comfortable saying. Of course it's fine to not say anything. I hope the transition back to the normal story of Impregnator Kings goes smoothly. And that it remains enjoyable.

>>1434 Well, I'd still give you my heartfelt thanks for even attempting scenes of these scale. The fact you're handling this all by yourself is a testament to your writing ability and dedication. That being said, here my own personal thoughts and opinion: 1. Reading these character distinct lovemaking scenes were a guilty pleasure that I check on this page daily to see if there was an update. The expectant characters were genuine in terms of how they each reached to Edward's advances, so personally, it was all fresh for me. 2. My top three favorite scenes would probably be Elizabeth, Noi, and Robin. Elizabeth due to the emphasis of her advanced belly on her thin frame combined with her proud affirmation of heing a mother, while her current state hinting at birth close at hand. Noi with the appeal of a well-built body suitable for the purpose of having babies with robust and excellent physical traits(not to mention all that mass breeding talk of making an army). Robin's my dark horse of a favorite character, as her pregnant build and current role in the story brings the perfect balance of story and smut for me personally. Her position as General and how she manages her troops is very interesting to me story-wise. I'm heavily biased towards petite pregnancies(as that often translate to another set of my birth kinks down the road), and so she easily takes that spot for me. Not to mention, her personality as a hardened yet soft tactician I do not seem to tire of. 3. Now regarding updates, I actually don't mind longer waiting times if it means getting a bigger update to read.So, just letting you know if we ever switch to that format, that I'm alright with it. That being said, thank you again for remaining true to this for us small folk here.

>>1434 For what it's worth, you did an admirable job with the marathon scenes there, even if you took longer than you wanted between some posts. I appreciate what you did, but also totally respect you swearing off doing it again. That was a lot to handle, to be sure. I definitely enjoyed the scenes, though. I'll come back and give an opinion on which ones I liked best when I have time to read over the lot all at once. I do dearly hope this isn't Sully's last scene, and I'm going to work to find some way to get her back into the castle. As for rate of updates, I kinda agree with Maxi. Coming to the board and seeing an update every day is nice, sure, but if you decide a scene needs an extra day or two 'in the oven', by all means do so. Lord knows you don't need to apologize for missing a day. I know you always focus on this being a collaborative project, but you're shouldering the lion's share of the work here. Take the time you need to work your magic. We want YOU to enjoy this too!

>>1434 I will add my agreement with the words of the others, better written than I could come up with. I enjoyed this group scene, but I also respect your decision to not do so again. I've done something similar with roleplay, and I can confirm it is taxing. If I had to pick a favorite, I'd say it was Noi. As for updates, by all means, keep pacing yourself. You've lasted this long (six years, holy carp!) by pacing yourself well, and you have proven that you keep your word and keep coming back. I hope to continue enjoying your writing for some time to come!

Hello everyone. I want to pose a question to you all. You know there's a "mechanics" where it's not really a "mechanic" and more of a "situation" that develops in Impregnator Kings that was unexpected. Where Edward develops a mutual love and understand with another woman. So far, it's happened with Tharja and Mania, and after deliberate votes. But, of course, I've heard a lot that people want to 'romance' Beatrice. And that it has been a goal they hoped they could reach. At the same time, I had to privately keep quiet, because I knew a much earlier decision had made Beatrice close her heart off to him. Meaning, she would never become a 'love' interest in the sense he had become with Tharja and Mania, but remain a character that shared a different dynamic with Edward. And, I offered a 'rewind' for that eventually with Edward able to mend the wound and have a second chance. But I'm wondering, should I do this for every significant female character? I know there must be favorites more than not. So far, the only time I really "warn" for choices is when I know a GAME OVER will result from them. But would people also appreciate a "(this choice will close this character off from loving Edward)" notification? I'm not sure if this would be good or bad. It might be just extraneous or superfluous or provoke bad will between people who like one character and others who hate her. Or bad will toward me that one choice seems very logical and in Edward's interests, but if chosen it will make their favorite character 'unattainable'. And it might be revealing too much about the character before I've given in game hints about what the character is like and that Edward could perceive or anticipate. So that's why I'm putting forth the question. How much do people like the "love" mechanic, as it is, and would ideally want it to be open to most all girls? For the purpose of getting their favorite girl, or as many as they can? Feel free to write an answer in your own words, or base it off one of the following: 1. I like that Edward fell in love with Tharja and Mania and am definitely hoping he'll attain mutual love with another woman. 2. Same as 1, but only Beatrice. 3. Same as 1, but with a favorite who isn't Beatrice so I'd rather such a mechanic be applied equally to everyone. (Or a favorite in addition to Beatrice.) 4. Regardless what I think, the idea is bad for anticipated reasons. 5. I don't really care about or think about the 'love' mechanic and would rather just take the story organically, except for the GAME OVERs, but I'll still vote if a "Does Edward love X" choice presents itself.

>>1480 This is a tough one. On the one hand, you're absolutely right that flagging choices as "this will lock them out of a mutual love option" will chance spoiling things in the story or spoil a choice one way or another based on how readers feel about a given character. On the other, finding out down the road that a seemingly innocuous choice you voted and even lobbied for ended up locking out a route you would have wanted or even sets the story down a path you don't like sucks. So I don't really have an answer yet. I think it'll require a careful hand, to be sure, and more than a few judgment calls on your part. Personally, I was happy when Tharja was the only woman Ed truly loved, so I'd just as soon stay where we are. I don't think him having any more "true loves" would improve the story for me, but I can't say for sure.

>>1480 I love open-paneled discussion like this. Looking back, I wasn't really expecting Mania's introduction as a character to have significant impact to Edward but I do think her 'true love' factor(and correct me if I'm wrong) might have something to do with the situation that there weren't any 'known' pregnant main characters at that time. Personally, as a reader I was just starved and Mania's appearance couldn't have been more warranted or well placed. But that was an exception. Now, with more opportunities to interact with other characters with a higher storyline ceiling potential, it's increasingly hard for Mania to compete for Edward's true love title and to maintain that same connection before the long slumber. At least for me personally, both interest-wise and attention-wise. We can still proceed with these 'logical' true loves based on how the community has steered Edward so far, but at some point - we would all have to come together and be transparent with our preferences/tastes and see how much of them are mutual with each other(I think we are technically small enough to do that?). Aristo can use these 'best girl' rankings as a potential guideline or current trend of the community(top 3/top 5/ or whatever metric), and if the story happens to steer us straight for those female characters, then that true love pathway is valid and therefore, logical to pursue. As for the other female characters that didn't exactly make the cut but still garnered some minority votes, I do think a shorter but sweet version of the 'Daniella Dreamworld but more on the preg side' might just work. Show a brief glimpse of what that reality would be had Edward made this female character his true love/s. This way, that alternate reality gets an 'honorable' mention of sorts without completely brushing aside the people who are interested in seeing that minor character get that kind of attention.

>>1480 I'm torn. I would totally enjoy having a true harem, but it HAS to make sense story wise. I would never vote for a choice SOLELY because it would keep a potential love option open, but I do appreciate knowing that a route has closed. So..... I guess I'd fall into option 5? Or 3?

>>1480 I'm somewhere between 2 and 5. I wouldn't mind romancing Beatrice, but I'd rather it happen organically. The same going for the rest of the women we interact with. Personally, I don't like the idea of making it more of a mechanic, because then it risks the game becoming more about the mechanics than the story. More about "gotta catch 'em all" than telling a good story. And I don't think we should know that a route has been closed to us, because then any regret we feel would instill more fear of missing out on future romances, or attempts to correct a perceived mistake. >>1482 I agree with BD that having more loves wouldn't add more to the story. If anything I think it makes the relationships feel less convincing.

>>1486 Yes. It's fair to say a number of women are infatuated with Edward, but it only applies to true love with Tharja and Mania. In Tharja's case, it was Edward consistently and honestly reciprocating her feelings and she learned very quickly to love who he was beyond who she imagined him to be. Edward responded in kind, for similar reasons. With Mania, they both did things for each other that neither of them thought were possible. Edward got Mania to open up about her past and remember her old life and deal with the emotion over the injustice she felt, as well as validate her by agreeing to remove the stakes and otherwise be a Good King. Meanwhile, Mania got Edward to open up about his family and discover something about himself he was in denial about. They both became very important to each other, beyond Mania having a body that was pregnant for Edward to stroke. I think the main reason that point was reached was because you all voted for outcomes that prompted it. It's possible Mania might not even be in the story anymore if certain choices weren't made. Or that Edward would only know her as "That 'witch' I helped who's in the village now." And certainly Tharja's relationship with Edward changed everything dramatically from the very beginning. When looked at in that perspective, which characters seem on the cusp of being able to reach that mutual love with Edward? Which feel closed off because they haven't exposed that side of themselves? Which could go either way? In that case, it's a bit easier to understand. But, I think the best answer is to leave it unsaid, because then it basically turns into two separate "Does Edward Love X?" polls.

>>1480 Option 5. I've given it some more thought, and I stand by everything I said before. I'll vote in those polls, but unless I feel it makes real narrative sense, I'll probably vote against more "true loves". Ed's obviously fond of every woman who's carrying his child. There's a sort of love there for all of them. But capital-L, kill for you die for you do anything in the world for you Love? That's going to take a lot for me to back. I think it's best to avoid making it a mechanical thing. That's getting too close to just marking every option about a girl [Robin Route] or [Beatrice Route], and that's a bit too game-ist for a narrative story. As to (what I think are) your questions about where characters stand in your last post, after you gave us the Beatrice redo I think the only girl I'd say is really closed off (not irreversibly, but just my read on her interactions) is Elizabeth. Her dynamic with Ed and with Tharja just precludes that in my mind. The Chrisania siblings, with the possible exception of Robin, would need a lot of work to get there. Course, I think that's a lot of the girls. Could we possibly get most any of the girls to that point? Sure, I think so, with enough work. But I don't think that would be in service to Edward's own growth and narrative.

Sorry about forgetting to have a 'closer' tally, but everyone voted unanimously so I took it for granted. Apologies.

Furthermore, clearly that was a typo and the line should've read "succeeded with the former."

>that bit about assured excommunication Yeah, but who would ever declare openly against the church like tha- >Edelgard ...crap. Also, assuming it isn't what Ed just remembered, if we have time we might hypothetically float our idea of bringing our brother in, just see what Corrin thinks.

>>1678 Unless Albert is like Ricardo, we risk an aweful lot bringing him to Ruhemania (or Elbania). His children will be in the line of succession. If he is like Ricardo, this would be perfect, because we could marry him off to Beatrice, Robin, Cordelia or some other noble women Ed has knocked up - or even suggest him as an alibi husband to Edelgard if we manage to knock her up - and thereby make sure that only Edward's children will be on the throne, even if something were to happen to Tharja and her children. But when has anything ever been this perfect for Edward? If Albert has any kind of ambition himself, bringing him in is dangerous. I'd rather have him stay in Virilia as Edward's gouverneur. He can rule the dukedom he never thought he'd get his brother's name, making sure the taxes are paid on time etc. It could be a nice (albeit small, most of the tax income will have to be reinvested back into Virilia itself) secondary stream of income and it keeps Albert far away.

Sorry for the period of time with no updates. Am going to attempt to change that over the weekend.

Question for the group: How serious are we about opening relations to Elbania forcefully if needed? Because if we are, then I say we need to talk to Camilla and Cordelia about the topic as well. There was this line a while back that the four siblings can achieve anything if they work together. It may have been more poetic than prophetic, but maybe there is something to it. A war is costly and even the best strategy will only lead to a phyrric victory if it bankrupts us or completely prevents profitable trade after the war. Camilla needs to be part of any plans. And Cordelia will of course be crucial because we'll need cavalry. On the question of diplomacy I had an idea the other day: While we decided against meeting at the monastery, meeting under the eyes of the church may be beneficial. The advantage of the monastery was the neutral ground, while her coming to Ruhemania or Edward going to Elbania carries the risk of being detained and leaving the home country without its ruler. I think it would be wise to bring a bit of "neutral territory" with us, i.e. a representative of the church. Let's take Kiara (and Father Thomas if we have to) with us to Elbania. If nothing else Kiara can help us overcome our disappointment on the trip back should we fail charm Edelgard ;-)

>>1839 I personally would rather avoid war, though if it comes to it, there is wisdom in what you suggest. As for taking a church rep with us, that actually sounds like a pretty good idea.

>>1851 Agreed on avoiding war if possible. As for church representation, we'll probably want to discuss this with Tomas, find out what he knows about Elbania and its relation with the church. It could be a risk, especially if Edelgard here is anything like her source material.

Return coming soon.

Hello everyone. I'm very interested in knowing if the latest scene "hit the spot" as it were. Please feel free to be honest. I try to keep each scene freash, and sometimes that means dipping a toe in a variation of another fetish. But whether you particularly like this one or not, I tried to give it universal appeal. Proper updates with choices will return soon. I hope it's enjoyable. On a side note, I tried opening up the entire story to review, and it was daunting! So much it crashes browsers. It's amazing to see how much we've written together over the years. The direction Edward's journey has taken him. We'll see more of it soon, with promises coming and new surprises. Next I believe is the arrival of Erika and eventually the bank that loaned Virilia money. The execution of Oana will also need to be dealt with. As well as Edward's relationships to the nuns. And eventually the journey to Elbania. Just organizing my thoughts as we go on in case I forget.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I thought this update was great. It's honestly impressive that things are still this fresh after years of the quest, and I can't wait to see what else you come up with in scenes like this. Venti's going to be in my top three at this rate, lol.

IK is really the only reason to check in on this shitshow of a site anymore.

I found this story while looking for some quick stuff to get off to sometimes early this year and ended up way too invested in the story. My comment is: holyshit this has been going for nearly 8 years? I've reached the beginning of thread 15 so I can't really participate in discussions yet but what I want to say this thank you Aristo for this unexpectedly great story.

>>1974 Thank you very much. This is the exact sort of thing I wonder if it ever happens, and I love hearing it does. It's thanks to the internet archive we're able to maintain a record like this. Please, when you feel like using your one vote and contributing to the discussion, I urge you to do so. It's because of listening to audience wants that the story has been able to take on the life it has. (For example: Mania came into existence as a character because of a request in the chat thread.)

Hello, everyone. Well, there it is. A line has been crossed. I found an AI art site and used it for the latest update reference picture. Reactions? Are people glad I can give them more reference images? Angry for using AI art at all? Don't care? As much as I'd like to have an artist who could draw every scene, that would never realistically happen. But I could use AI for IK. Even for little "nothing" updates like this one. I could possibly even create original character art this way and not rely on fanart of existing characters. That, if nothing else, could work better for putting a face on Edwys, for example. (I specifically avoid giving Edward a face because men don't get portraits in IK, and I'd like to think everyone has some freedom to self-insert themselves.) Anyway, I know AI art is controversial. I'd appreciate knowing everyone's thoughts.

>>2026 > Are people glad I can give them more reference images? Yes. Very much. I was actually hoping for that for a few months now while I've been watching AI-image generation get better and better even for very specific scenarios. > Angry for using AI art at all? Don't care? Don't care. I recognized it as probably AI-generated right away, but in my book that's in the same category as "well this artist has a certain style how they draw faces" I like the flexibility that AI-generated images give and would very much like more images. Especially for the sex-scenes with our pregnant ladies. > Anyway, I know AI art is controversial. I'd appreciate knowing everyone's thoughts. I fully understand the controversy around not paying the original human artists that this brings with it. I am sympathetic with it. I fully support paying artists their fair share. I just don't think that not using AI-image generation is the right conclusion to draw from that. It is too amazing a tool for that.

>>2026 I'm not wild about AI images, but it's not a deal breaker either. If this was a new quest I'd probably be a good deal more wary of it, but over the years you've proven your dedication to this, so I feel like I can trust you to use these images without getting crazy or sloppy. Hopefully we don't end up with any thirteen finger abominations turning up, lol.

To an extent, I can totally understand using AI if a good existing image doesn't already exist (if I had any idea how to make decent use of it, I wouldn't have to resort to the ever-congested drawthread to try to get anything for my OCs, or at the very least I'd have something to use as an example image instead of trying to piece random things together). As long as it isn't actually hurting anyone and the art looks decent enough, don't care.

>>2026 I’m not super enthused about AI art and would prefer traditional art to look at with every update. I would be against the use of AI art if this was an art based cyoa. But since this cyoa is text based and the art is only supplemental to the story, AI art is fine if used sparingly. Like how others in this thread have already expressed, I trust you enough to defer to your judgement when to use and when not to use AI art for each update.

I'm not particularly phased by AI art. Conceptually, I don't like it. Especially for commercial use. But in regards to its use here in the story... I find it innocuous. I even like having art for scenes that wouldn't normally have them. I would obviously abide the majority here, but it just doesn't feel that transgressive to me.

>>2028 Follow-up on my post here: I'd still rather see human-made art over AI when possible, but when the AI can provide an image that an artist hasn't made yet, that's fine by me.

Putting aside the controversy of how the AI was trained, I'm okay with it. Not thrilled- AI art looks pretty samey to me- but I respect the fact that you want to add more to your posts without scrolling through pages upon pages of images to find what you want. I agree that I'd rather see human art over AI, but for the sake of your sanity and all the work you put into this story, I'm okay with it.

AI art is nothing but bigoted art theft. I don't like any aspect of it, particularly since I want to be a writer and writers are already being stolen from. But it's not as if we can stop you.

All right. An informal summation is that a few people are just grateful for me to have images to work with. A few don't care. A few think it's bad but are okay if I use it because IK has been going on so long and it's clear I don't try to pass it off as "my own." And a few categorically hate it. This sort of poll is definitely not a "majority rules" situation but a "what answer can satisfy with a compromise?" So, here's my situation and my idea: 1. I was playing with the idea of using AI art for every little scene, even if it was 'meet X person in hallway', because then I could match emotions to faces too, but I think this is overkill. So, no to that. 2. If a character is popular (that is, not necessarily popular in IK, but popular universally and gets a lot of fanart), and it's easy to find art, I will use that. Unless it's to show them at a certain stage of pregnancy I just can't find. 3. If a character I chose to depict in the story is just so niche I can barely find art of them, I will use AI to fill the gap. This happens a lot because when I am writing and looking for art to use, I think of good characters to fit the 'feeling' I want the character in the story to evoke. I don't really worry about whether they actually have a ton of art to work with. I'm pretty sure there's not one image of Beatrice done pregnant. Noi also would be rare. Rosette will also fit this if she is ever successfully pursued. Finally there's Venti, who is just a rare case because there isn't a lot of gender-change art for her. So, right now, we will def. see Venti's model again because that's just too convenient, especially when she gets pregnant. Models for Beatrice, Rosette, and Noi may pop up too. But, I will try to use non-AI art as I can. This is never a "I don't want to sift through images," situation. I never mind doing that. This is more of a "I've sifted through everything and there's not even one morsel" situation. I still would rather use traditional art, so I will go with that if I can find it.

>>2037 Probably the best approach. And I respect you soliciting our opinions rather than just making the call yourself. It is seen and appreciated.

>>2037 >>2038 I agree with BD, and I sympathize with searching for something so long and coming up with nothing. Thanks again for including us as part of the process.

This is doable. Thank you.

The recent scare reminded me how special the story (and the site hosting it) really is. "Famous last words," but I'm going to try to come back to more regular updates.